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Comment by appl3star | Hacker News Reader

London, Berlin, Barcelona, Hamburg

Why?

Cost of living is very high in London.

Compared to Eastern Europe and Southern Europe, yes. But if you compare London against Germany or any of the northern siblings (Scandinavia region for instance), London is very cheap. If cost of living is your highest priority, then cities in Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Italy and Spain (in that order) will be your favourite. But then that's just not what a startup needs, doesn't it? In case of software, London has the best ecosystem. London is also not bad for lifestyle, etc ...

Czechoslovakia? I believe life cost and style, from what I've seen, is quite different between the czech republic and slovakia

True. I also know a few who have relocated from Budapest (Hungary) to Prague (Czech R) after completing university. More jobs, better wage, better living standards.

Slovakia has improved a lot lately. Some thing which I didn't expect before visiting Slovakia, was the lack of English skills among youth. They seemed to speak better German than English.

In my experience, London is more expensive than just about anywhere in the world. If you need cheap, my recommendation is Berlin, housing and office costs are very low, and if you are coming from anywhere else in Europe almost everyone speaks English which is quite handy

Try living in Tokyo and Scandinavian cities :) I am currently living in Finland and just finished a small tour of the Scandinavian region. The costs here compared to London are not comparable. Other then rent, everything else is way out expensive compared to London. But if you are ready to travel a bit daily you can offset that rent cost. But then you cannot beat the rest of environment. For e.g. number of fellow hackers / programmers, etc ...

Rent is the main factor that makes London expensive, so if there is someway to get free housing, your other costs won't be too bad.

London cheap compared to Germany?! Compared to Scandinavia perhaps, Germany no.

You are right, how can I forget Lidl :P.

Berlin is way cheaper than London.

Göteborg was way much cheaper than London both rent and food. Plus it is a small city, great internet and lot of people wanting to do new things

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_most_expensive_cities_f...

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